Improvement in hammers



G. M. YOUNG,

lmprovemenf in Hammers. No, 115,008 Patented Ma 1631871.

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idnitzh GOTTLIEB M. YOUINIGLOFEL PASO, ILLINOIS.

Letters Patent No. 115,008, dated May 16, 1871.

I IMPROVEMENT IN HAMM ERS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern: r

Be it known that I, GOTTLIEBVM. YOUNG, of El Paso, in the county of Woodford and in the State of Illinois, have invented a Nail-holding Attachment for' Hammers, Hatchets, and similar tools and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being bad to the annexed Figure 5, perspective'view of the nail-holder and hatchet.

This invention consists in attaching, above or beneath the'substance of the driving-face of a hatchet, hammer, or a similar tool, a clasp or holder to retain a nail with its point directed forward ready to insert into any required spot above the reach of the left hand, which usually holds the nail when driven in the old manner, the head of thenail resting against a projecting part of said tool, so that the nail, when the tool is thrown forward, receives-a sufficient blow to fix the point of the nail temporarily for driving it home with the usual driving-face of the tool, the holder being now withdrawn from the shank of the nail by a. slight pull.

A represents the head of a hammer. B, a. spring, made of elastic metal, (see fig. 3,) formed with a lower plate, (I, from one side of avhich an arm, i, or holder, is bent upward acrossTh e horizontal surface of the plate, leaving a recess, 0,. in the middle of the holder or clasp, the axis of said recess being parallel with the axisof the toolJor at right angles with the driving-face of the latter, and large enough to retain the shank of any nail. The outer end I) of the holder or clasp, being slightly turned outward,forms an easy entrance for the shank of the nail. The base or plate dot" the holder is slipped into the retaining recess 0 of the tool. The spring or holder may be modified so as to consist of two holders'or clasps, with a space for the nail between them risingfrom a similar plate, (1, as shown in fig. 5.

The plate d may befixed to the tool in a dovetail recess, 0, to be cut or castin the upper-part of the driving part ofthe tool, constructed to admit and retain the plate dot the holder B; or it may be made with perpendicular walls, as seen in fig. .5, with saw cuts or long thin slots or extensions of the horizontal bottom surface of the recess .0, which will retain the edges of the plate (1.

A guard, g g, to protect the holder B from damage from without, will be necessary in this form of the holder. V

D, a face formed by the projection of the body of I the tool behind the nail-head and the holder, and

parallel with the driving-face of said tool, which in1 pels the nail when the blow is made.

The operation of this device is as follows 3 The nail to be driven is inserted between the lips b of the holder B, the shank pointing outward and the head against the face D. The nail can now be driven in places above the operators head which-cannot be reached by the left hand when employed to hold the nail to be driven. One blow of the tool with the retained nail fixes the latter temporarily, and a slight pull of the tool disengages the holder from the nail, and the driving of the nail can be finished in the usual manner with the face of the tool.

What I claim as my invention is-- r The spring clasp or'holder B, as constructed and arranged in the dovetail recess 0, as herein described,

in combination with the projecting face D of the ham mer, substantially in the-manner and for the purpose as herein shown and set forth.

In testimony'that I claim the foregoing nail-holdin g attachment to hammers, 850., I have hereunto set my hand this 14th day of December, A. D. 1870.

GOTTLIEB M. YOUNG. Witnesses:

J. G. Tomas, J. '1 ZINSER. 

